ZESN Report on the 31 July 2013 Harmonised Elections competition also brought increased violence and conflict to Zimbabwean elections, notably during the 2002 presidential elections, which recorded the highest levels of political violence until the 2008 run off. During the same period, repressive legislation that violates fundamental freedoms and rights was enacted. Examples of such laws include the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) passed in 2002, which has been used to control freedoms of assembly and association. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), passed in 2002, has also been used to limit citizens’ access to information, as has the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) of 2001, which proscribed the participation of certain sectors in the country’s broadcasting arena. In 2007 the regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), became sufficiently concerned with the political situation in Zimbabwe and appointed Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s President at the time to mediate between Zimbabwe’s competing political parties. His ‘quiet diplomacy’ was widely criticised by stakeholders as ineffective. However, it did result in the passing of an amendment to the then Constitution that set the stage for ‘harmonised’ elections on March 29 2008. The 2008 elections were the first in the country’s history when the election of the President, the Senate, the National Assembly and the local authorities was held on the same day, hence the term harmonised. The constitutional amendment introduced a two-round or absolute majority electoral system for the election of the president. This requires that the victor in the presidential race must win by attaining 50 per cent plus at least one valid vote in the first round, or failing that a simple majority in a run-off election between the two candidates with the highest number of votes from the first round. In 2008, the election results for the first round of the presidential election took five weeks to be released, a situation that compromised the credibility of the results and of the election management body. Morgan Tsvangirai received 47.9 per cent of the votes and Robert Mugabe 43.2 per cent. As neither attained the 50 per cent plus one vote required, a run-off became necessary. However, in an effort to ensure victory in the run-off election ZANU-PF unleashed a wave of violence nationwide that resulted in the loss of life of some opposition supporters and displaced many more. Due to the depth and extent of the violence, Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the run-off. Robert Mugabe contested by himself and won in an election that was widely criticised as not reflective of the people’s will by the international community including SADC and African Union (AU). Under pressure from the SADC and AU President Mugabe was left with no choice but to compromise and share power with the two MDC formations and to promise Zimbabweans a genuine and credible election under a legal and institutional framework that would be acceptable to all and which would level the political and electoral playing field. A cooperation treaty, commonly known as the GPA, was signed between the leaders of the three parties with the most seats in the National Assembly, namely President Mugabe representing Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), Morgan 13 | P a g e